Shrines of Gaiety

 

Shrines of Gaiety – Kate Atkinson

For a book lover such as myself, there’s no greater joy that when you discover that your favorite author has a new book that has just been released. Opening up the front cover of such a book sitting in a comfy chair with a fresh cup of coffee is the equivalent of an excited 6-year-old getting ready to open his presents on Christmas morning.  For my tastes, Atkinson rarely disappoints. I say “my tastes” because I’ve learned that her writing style isn’t for everyone.  Yes, there are masses who love her, but there’s also a substantial portion of the book community who never seem to understand exactly what the fuss is about.

Bob Dylan once said that trying to “write about music” is similar to trying to “dance about architecture”. I guess the same can be said about any form of art.  You either get it and enjoy it, or you don’t.  I’ve always loved Kate Atkinson because her books seem to make me chuckle, smile, and guffaw out loud at times, yet her books tend to focus on depressing, down on their luck, individuals.  To paraphrase Stephen King, “It is not the tale, it is he who tells it”.

Speaking of depressing individuals, such is the case here. This book takes place in 1926 (the “roaring 20s”) in London, England.  Yet we encounter few people who seem to be “roaring” in a state of bliss.  Even the rich ones we meet tend to have more problems than they can handle, so Atkinson doesn’t paint a very pretty picture.  Again, though, she never does.

Our protagonist is Nellie Coker. Nellie is an older lady who is just being released from prison. Her crime? Well, I’m not sure we’re ever told.  She’s the owner and proprietor of about a half-dozen high-end speakeasies in London, so I’m sure her conviction had something to do with her lifestyle and her questionable business decisions in terms of legality.  Not the Nellie cares. She’s a tough, smart old bird. Nellie has six adult kids. We meet them all, yet fortunately some stand out more than others. I say “fortunately” because Atkinson does tend to get a tad heavy when it comes to placing actors on her stage.  It’s hard to keep everyone straight in your head.

We must also notate that our story isn’t just about Nellie and her brood. Like many works of Atkinson, there are a few plot lines going on that don’t seem to relate, but eventually the dots do get connected.  We have a couple of young runaway girls who end up in London and they do end up crossing paths with the Corker clan.  One of the girls goes missing.  Then we hear of random homeless girls being found dead around town. So we then get a few police-like characters that become involved trying to solve the mystery. The fact that police types don’t mingle well with owners of speakeasies makes things interesting as well.

So all of these people come together in what makes up our story. Like many of Atkinson’s books, though, the “story” isn’t really the main draw of what makes her story so special. The specialness focuses rather on her style of writing and how the characters are described and interact with each other. Again, I’m trying to describe “art” and I simply can’t do it that well. You simply have to read an Atkinson book for yourself. (On that note, in addition to this one, some of her other strong pieces include “Big Sky”, “Life After Life”, “Human Croquet”, and her fabulous debut “Scenes From a Night in a Museum”.)

You might imagine that a book littered with the seedy underworld of fancy nightclubs, murdered teenagers, and runaway girls has enough to keep the plot a tad dark and dreary, you’d be correct. It’s also worth noting that even though we’re in the “roaring 20s”, the nightmare of the first world war wasn’t too distant in the past, and a lot of our characters have memories from the event that they would rather forget. Still, though, a high point of these books is that you do end up chuckling your way through so much of it.

So if you’re a fan of Atkinson, I would highly recommend this book. For the rest of you, you owe it to yourself to give her a chance, and this work by her is as good as any.